Southampton 2-0 Aston Villa: Saints make hard work for themselves but claim home win

Southampton made hard work for themselves on Saturday but eventually claimed a priceless 2-0 win over Aston Villa to move to within two points of the top half.

Shane Long’s early goal saw Saints hold a narrow lead for much of the game, but Stuart Armstrong rolled into an empty net to seal the victory once and for all with Villa going all out for an equaliser in stoppage-time.

The team news ahead of the game provided a few surprises for Saints fans.

Will Smallbone made his Premier League debut in midfield, with James Ward-Prowse filling in at right-back and Jan Bednarek returning to defence. Tyrone Mings returned to provide leadership at the back for visiting Villa.

Saints made a lightning-quick start to the contest as they looked to put last week’s performance against Burnley behind them.

Will Smallbone was involved in play early on despite some potential nerves on his first top-flight start and almost had the dream start when his deflected shot flicked off the post. Soon though, Saints did have the lead.

Moussa Djenepo – who had a very bright first-half – worked his way to the dead ball line and but the ball back for Shane Long, and the striker managed to bundle the ball in off of his midriff to give Saints something to hang onto.

It’s difficult to say whether this Saints side prefer a one or two goal lead, but they really should have doubled their lead on 20 minutes.

Although the St Mary’s crowd would have expected the net to bulge, Danny Ings saw his effort well blocked by Pepe Reina and then Djenepo could only find the stand behind the Northam end goal once play had been recycled.

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The opening period then finished fairly quietly in comparison to Saints’ flying start. Villa did produce a moment to keep the hosts aware though when Jack Grealish slipped Mbwana Samatta in on goal to find the net, but the striker was well offside as he was played through.

After half-time, the same fast start came from Saints as chances came and went.

Jack Stephens diverted a Ryan Bertrand cross just wide before Stuart Armstrong could only find the side-netting from a narrow angle. Djenepo then showed great skill to work himself into a shooting position, but his effort was also frustratingly well off target.

Midway through the second-half, Saints had racked up 21 shots but had just one goal to their name.

Despite that, they had also managed to keep Villa quiet and had seen Alex McCarthy completely untroubled throughout the afternoon.

Ralph Hasenhuttl opted for a straight switch of his strikers into the final 20 minutes, which meant more time for summer signing Che Adams to try and get his first competitive goal for Saints.

Twice he went close to getting the all important second – first by drilling just wide from outside the area and then when seeing another attempt blocked from close range.

However, he would have a part to play as Saints finally made it 2-0 in the fourth minute of stoppage-time.

Villa went all out for an equaliser and sent goalkeeper Pepe Reina up for a corner, which came to nothing and was cleared to Adams to break away.

Instead of take the ball on himself though, he found Stuart Armstrong with a superb pass forward and made it easy for the Scotland international to pass the ball into an empty net.

Saints move up just one place in the Premier League table but are crucially 10 points clear of the bottom three and just three behind Burnley in 8th with 11 matches left of the season.

What’s more is this win should provide more freedom for Saints to play open football that suits them best and gives them a huge chance of winning next weekend at struggling West Ham.

Saints team

McCarthy, Ward-Prowse, Stephens, Bednarek, Bertrand, Hojbjerg, Smallbone (Romeu 80), Djenepo, Armstrong, Long (Adams 72), Ings (Obafemi 72)

Subs not used: Gunn, Valery, Vestergaard, Boufal

Villa team

Reina, Konsa (Hourihane 59), Mings, Hause, Guilbert, Targett, Nakamba (Borja 80), Douglas Luiz, El Ghazi (Trezeguet 27), Grealish, Samatta

Subs not used: Nyland, Elmohamady, Engels, Drinkwater